NAA: Protector
by Kathryn Christine Starcrafter
Summary: No one can discern the human mind. The intent some people have. Even love. Shadria.


-**DISCLAIMER**-

Sonic the Hedgehog and all related characters/themes © SEGA and/or Sonic Team.

'The New Age Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog' © Kathryn Christine Starcrafter/Lumorean Arts.

-**WARNING**-

This work of fiction is rated M for:

Rape

-**AUTHOR'S NOTES**-

The study of human nature -the reasons why we do the things we do- has been ongoing for countless years. What gives someone the incentive to steal or to kill has always fascinated me. I don't honestly ever believe we will have the ability to predict a person's mental state, what makes a house wife into a murder or a child into a protegee. We all have two faces, just like a coin. There is the one we put on for the word to see and then another we keep behind locked doors.

This story has been adapted for placement in the NAA Timeline. This event happens before Shadow and Maria have admitted their feelings for one-another. In NAA Maria is not 12 when she is killed. She is 21 and she and Shadow are an actual couple. As well, the planet's name is Mobius, not Earth.

This fiction is a good many years old but I've never actually placed it up online until now.

**-PROTECTOR-**

The silence on the ARK was always unnerving no matter how long you've lived within its cold and barren confines. Little sound could penetrate foot-thick, steel walls bordering dorms and laboratories saturated with the stench of sulfur and peroxide. There was little fear from any within its dome covering. Besides from the worry of misused experiments, and the occasional maddening rampage of a cracked mind, none had anything to fear. Though the ARK was sealed and kept in-check with its vast advancements in security, some smarter rats could navigate it's maze.

Night was the coldest of all times aboard the Space Colony. The isolated cells protected against sound but, did little against the temperatures of space. Since they were out amongst the stars time was determined by the position of the sun. Currently its warming amber glow lay snuggled behind the shimmering planet called Mobius, but there was something different about this particular night.

A figure was stirring in a lustful hunger. His feet dragged across the frozen, tiled floor like he had done so many times before. His intentions were thickly set in him mind, they were what pushed him onward towards his destination, despite the consequences. No one else was awake at this time -a rule for all workers to return to their quarters when the sun fully vanished from sight. He walked in long strides, his body shuttering as his mind raced with what he was about to do.

He stopped at the door he was looking for. Nothing too out of the ordinary from the rest of them, except for a combination of numbers marked C127. A malevolent grin burned his pale face as his thin fingers typed a hacked code into a keypad next to the door. It lightly dissolved into the wall at it's left and the man stepped inside the darkened confines. It was then, as he entered the domain, that the door completely shut, ushering in a wave of darkness. His heart began to pump excessively, bringing every inch of his body a mild adrenalin rush. He molted what little cloths he had obscured his form with: a long white laboratory coat, and nothing more. His body was fully exposed to the world. Muscles packed tightly in every corner of his thin frame, sweat ran down every length of his form, from his chest to his legs. With this his lustful hunger grew even more so as thoughts consumed him. He slithered through the small apartment-like complex, searching for the one area where his desires would be quelled. He stopped at another door and opened it to find a sleeping beauty in her bed, soundless and innocent and tempting.

Maria was a beautiful, young girl of twelve. Her hair was a shimmering, shoulder-length curtain of golden silk and offset with a pair of startling, sapphire-blue irises. But, those things weren't what attracted him to her. She was pure, a virgin life left all alone, with no protection. She was a perfect target for his sadistic mind.

He climbed up the sheets of her white-linen bed till he was well within reach of any part of her. She gave a light groan and shifted in her sleep till she found a comfortable position on her left side. He licked his lips and slowly took hold of the top of her sheets with two fingers that laid delicately over her shoulders. He gingerly pulled the weightless material across her back till it rested just below her knees. He preformed the maneuver so flawlessly that she never even shifted.

It was now that he had Maria right where he wanted her. What was even better was that she was already in the nude as she slept, possibly from the heat of the room. For once the man was glad the scientists overran their heating bill. He took his hands and began to massage her back, running his callused palms from her waist down to her smooth thighs and back, all in a tantalizing motion that made him hard. Maria began to groan and shift in her sleep, trying to wake herself and find the cause of this feeling she was having.

"Shadow," she tried to call to her protector -knowing something wasn't right. But, all that came out was a tight whisper.

The man frowned and gripped her warm thighs with his tainted nails, slowly pulling her thin legs apart from one another and twisting his prey onto her stomach. Maria continued to groan and shift uneasily from his touch.

"Shadow, Shadow," her whispers became louder as she tried to surface from the realm of sleep.

The man frowned and brought one of his burly hands up towards her head. In one fatal movement he thrust his palm onto the side of her face to muffle her sounds. She immediately awoke and shivered at the weight that was now pressed on top of her body. Fear struck her like a feral lightning bolt down her spine, the adrenalin speared her heart so fast it nearly stopped beating. Maria couldn't see her assailant, but she could feel every move he made. She felt the intruder position himself between her legs and she grew terribly fearful. Her eyes began to well as he lifted her lower end up to his waist with his free hand. Something hot and stiff glazed her crotch before a startling pain ripped through her middle.

Maria's head lifted with a jolt of strength. She screamed with the best of her lungs as tears streamed down her face, "Shadow!"

Her heartfelt cry resonated through her room, but she was fearful that it would not penetrate the soundproof walls of the ARK. But, she was wrong. Though the sound never reached beyond her walls its feeling of distress reached the heart of one a distance away. His dark eyelids flung open to reveal passionate crimson irises.

"Maria?" his head jolted upwards perched on slim arms. "Maria!" he forced his entire body to his door within a second and dashed into the hall with out another thought, not even to dress himself in his shoes and gloves and rings.

As Shadow ran down the blackened corridors of the Colony he could feel her anguish, he could hear her cries as if he were right beside her. His mind was racing with thoughts of his one and only friend and what was wrong. He was deadly afraid for her safety. He arrived at her room in record time and wasted not a second more in typing her room number. Right when the door allowed him passage he ran inside.

"Maria!" Shadow called through the apartment.

As he reached her bedroom he was horrified and enraged at what his eyes showed him. There was a blond man hunched over her, doing something to her he couldn't bring himself to believe. Maria was beneath him quivering, shedding thick tears, and trying to scream through her pillow. The experiment's quills sharpened. He went berserk.

"Get Off Of Her You Bastard!" He leaped into the air and slammed a thick Charlie-Kick into the stunned man's jaw, holding back just enough so the offense wouldn't kill its target.

The man's naked body flung to the side with a yelp. Once his back hit the wall he slid to the floor, trailing a long line of maroon blood from the corner of his open mouth. He instantly fainted.

The hedgehog felt such a rush of power inside him, a wrathful urge to rip off every limb from his body in the most painful way possible. Only the fear over the status of the young girl tore him away. Shadow wasted no time in getting to Maria. He lifted her head up gingerly from the pillow it had been rammed into seconds before. The frightened child immediately buried her face in his soft, white-furred chest, dainty hands gripped his shoulders fiercely as she cried into him.

"Shadow, I was so scared. Oh, Shadow." Her sobs were muffled by his pelt as he pressed her naked form as close to him as he could.

The ebony hedgehog rubbed his paws up and down her rippling, sweat-riddled back, comforting her, trying to calm her sweetly.

"Shh, it's alright now. Every thing's going to be okay, Maria. I'm here, I won't let anyone touch you," he whispered honeyed words to her ear.

While holding her with one arm he bent down and grabbed one of her soggy sheets. He began manipulating her within it to cover her bare and shaking form.

"Here, let's go now." He gently pulled her away to look into her reddened eyes, smiling for her to show that his promise was true.

Shadow manipulated her so he could cradle her weightless form to his chest. Maria looped her arms around her savior's neck for support, fatigue accomplished this task slowly and clumsily. Her quivering began to slow to short jolts knowing she was in the safest place she could ever be, in the arms of Shadow the Hedgehog. As he began to exit her room she nuzzled into his quills to wipe away the last of her tears.

"Thank you," she spoke silently into him, her hot breath ruffling his fur.

Shadow's heart lept at those words as he raced out of her dorm. As he exited into the lightless hallway he turned and rocketed a bare foot into the control pad. The door slammed tightly shut, he knew the man wouldn't be able to escape now. At least, not before Shadow brought reinforcements. The man would be caught red-handed.

Farther along the ARK a young woman awoke with a start from a deep, male voice calling to her frantically from her door's speaker. She got up lazily, not knowing what the urgency was, and made her way to the door. Upon opening it she was met with a sight she thought her hazy eyes were generating. The black hedgehog, Shadow, held a quivering girl wrapped in a stained sheet who she knew very well.

"Shadow? What's going on?" the woman collapsed onto her knees and reached her hands forward to ensure the child's health.

"Neaira, something really bad happened. You need to get Maria down to the Hospital Wing immediately," Shadow's voice seemed ragged and worried as he spoke those words.

The woman took the bunched-up Maria from the hedgehog's arms and brought the child to her chest.

Neaira looked over the girl in her and could almost feel her horror and unease. "What happened to her?" she asked with a deep concern, looking back to the hedgehog.

Shadow was slow to answer, again he couldn't bring himself to remember what had happened, "she was -A guy entered her room, I didn't really look at him. He was..."

Neaira's eyes narrows in disgust, complex questions raced in her head. It was so unheard of she almost didn't believe it. It was only from seeing Shadow's expression, a deep concern for his friend's safety, that made here believe every word. Who could have done such a thing? Everyone's background was checked before they were even considered to come aboard the ARK. But, nothing was perfect. Sadly, the imperfections that slipped through just ruined the dreams of an innocent child.

She nodded understandingly, picking herself up to a stand. "Don't worry. I'll take her right now."

Shadow nodded and turned to run off.

"Shadow, please don't leave me."

He turned to see Maria looking down at him from Neaira's arms, a tiny hand outstretched, reaching for him.

Shadow turned to her and drew close. He lifted both his paws and enveloped her fragile fingers in his soft, warming grip.

"Don't worry, I'll go to the Hospital Wing as soon as I can. Everything's okay now, Maria," he gave her one of his small, yet powerful, smiles and slowly, reluctantly, released her from his grasp.

Shadow the hedgehog knew well that Maria was safe with Neaira. The Botanist might be crazy but she couldn't do anything as bad as what that man did. As the ebony hedgehog raced to Gerald's dorm he couldn't stop thinking of that image he saw. A disgusting and impure deed that was unthinkable in Shadow's mind. As the memory raced in his mind he felt the spines on his back prickle and a deep growl vibrate his rib-cage. His rage was building, an urge to strangle the man tensioned his nerves and made his adrenalin pulsate through every tendon. The sense to return to Maria's room and kill the man in cold blood was almost too much. It took all of his will power just to hold back on that Charlie-Kick, and without his Rings it was becoming harder and harder to control the Elemental Chaos writhing beneath his fur. Soon he found himself in front of the large, bolted doors of the Professor's space on the ARK, in shorter time than he expected.

Gerald awoke with a start, much like Neaira had before him. He got up as best an old man could and placed on a long jacket over his undergarments as he went to answer Shadow's call. Upon opening the heavy door he was met with a seemingly calm figure. But, he knew his creation too well. The hedgehog's quills were slightly perked, his aura a blaring, angry blood-orange. Instantly, the Professor knew something was wrong.

"Shadow, what's the matter? Did something happen?" Gerald Robotnik asked.

"It's Maria. I heard her calling me from my room, somehow, and when I went to check on her there was one of the scientists, raping her. I knocked him out and got Maria out of there, locking him inside her room. I gave Maria to Neaira to take to the hospital wing. Then I came to get you so that you could get him and-," Shadow spoke so quickly that Gerald was both stunned by his speed and the news that his creation just brought.

"Maria, was raped by one of the scientists here?" The older man finally got the blunt of the impact. Shadow nodded so he asked another question, "and, you locked the one who did it in her room?" Shadow nodded again. Gerald asked another question, "she's alright though?"

"Yes, I gave her to Neaira to take to the Hospital. I think I got to her in time," Shadow responded verbally.

Gerald sighed, "right. I'll take a couple of Guardians with me and we'll catch him. Are you sure he's locked up tight?"

Shadow nodded, "yes. I broke the panel to her door so, unless he hacks the wires of the backing, I don't think he can get out."

"Right then, I'll get a hacker to help open the door then." He began trotting off into the darkness but stopped when he noticed something. Looking behind he asked, "Aren't you coming?"

Shadow's expression grew dark, "I shouldn't... Unless, you want him dead."

Gerald's eyes widened at this reaction, he now noticed the hedgehog wasn't wearing his Power Suppressors. The Professor knew his creation was enraged beyond what his calm disposition would show. As well, he didn't judge his creation's truth, just from the tone of his speech he knew none of it was a lie.

Gerald quickly located a Guardian, one of the G.U.N. Soldiers who patrolled the ARK both day and night. From him he rounded up four others and a hacker within ten minutes. The group collected at room C127. Luckily when they all arrived the room was still shut tight, meaning the more tech-savy of the group had to gather some wires from the broken panel to activate the door. Right when it flung open the man, dressed only in his robe, came bursting out and was immediately tackled by three of the scientists, omitting Gerald and the astonished geek. His guilt was written all over him. There was nothing he could come up with to explain why he had been in Maria's room late a night, with nothing on except a lab coat.

Right after speaking with Gerald, Shadow hurried over to the Hospital Wing to see Maria. At first the night nurse wouldn't let him in but, with a little help from Neaira who was standing watch for some reason outside the door, he was allowed into the long area.

The air smelt strongly of cleaning alcohol and sterilizing chemicals. The room she was in was rectangular, able to lay twenty patients on each side of it. It was doused in a mild darkness that took less than a minute for the eyes to adjust to. As the hedgehog walked in through the center he viewed each row of beds, looking for her. To his right white walls marked the area off, the other end held another door similar to the one he just came through. To his left there was no wall. Being on the edge of the Space Colony they carved the opposite wall of the room with large glass plates, opening the wide expansion of space just beyond their grasp.

He then saw Maria on the fourth cot down, set on the side revealing the stars just behind her head. Her form was merely a light lump below her delicate, white seats, barely noticeable in the gray light. But to him, she was an emanating sun at midnight. He walked up to her silently, if she was asleep he didn't want to wake her. When the hedgehog reached her he saw her eyes were shut tight, laying on her side, facing him. An arm lay out in front of her head, quivering uneasily. She was having a dream, he suspected, about what had just happened. The traumatic scene ever haunted her, awake or asleep.

Shadow pulled up a tall, white stool near her and sat as close as he could. He brought a paw up to kindly grip his friend's hand near her head. It continued to quiver. He then took his thumb and gingerly began rubbing it over her knuckles to try and calm her still.

"It's alright now, Maria. I'm hear, I won't leave you. I'll always protect you," the dark hedgehog cooed.

Gradually he watched as her face loosened and her shivering subsided, her pink lips took on a subtle smile from his loving voice. Her aura now shined with a warm glow that calmed anyone close enough to feel its embrace. Shadow rested his head on his other arm, like a sort of pillow, on the semi-hard cushion of the make-shift bed. His face was turned to Maria's to ensure she remained at ease. He listened to her delicate breathing and tempting heart beat as he continued to sooth her soft fingers. The melody slowly pushed him into sleep.

Just outside the room Neaira glanced in and watched the display between the two. She gave a warm smile to them, gripping her upper arms as she became slightly cold and tired. But she was startled briefly as a figure's footfalls silently resonated close behind her. She turned herself, her long hair flowing with her movements.

Gerald slowly walked to her side and looked in at what she had been viewing only seconds before. He sighed at the sight, she could feel that he was uneasy.

"So, everything's alright then?" she asked, hoping to start a conversation that might ease the tension she was feeling.

"Umm? Oh, yes everything has been made right," Gerald responded as if he had been woken from a trance.

The pale woman took one of her long finger and pulled back a few strands of black hair behind her ear. "That's good. I think my heart stopped for a second there," she tried to sound chipper to lighten the mood.

"Yes, apparently it was Professor Mandalas," Gerald told her.

"Really? George? He didn't seem like the type. But, then again, what is a rapist's type?" Neaira responded in contemplation and utter shock. She turned then, back to the two sleeping a distance away. "It's a good thing Shadow came to her rescue. How did he do it? Was he near her room when it happened?"

Gerald thought for a moment as to what to respond with. "He just told me he somehow heard her calling to him form his room."

Neaira gave a glance to him and smiled. "Really now? Sounds like something from a romance. A man hears the distress of his lover despite the blocks between them, in this case soundproof walls." The young woman gave a feminine giggle at the thought. All Gerald met her with was an uneasy groan. "As yet, something still isn't right is it?"

He bowed his head lowly, "it's not really what just happened, but what has been happening," the professor finally admitted.

"You mean between those two?" Neaira asked. Gerald gave another groan as if to say she was right. She looked back to the two beyond the door she and Gerald were observing them from. Her mouth made another smile as a mother would give her dearest child, "you can see them there just as well as I can. I guess love is one thing that no one can truly understand." Gerald give no indentation that he was listening. She gave a long sigh and turned to leave. Before she was out of ear range she stopped, and turned back to the distraught professor. "Give them a chance, Gerald. It might not be as bad as you think," the woman then slowly strolled away, back to her room.

Gerald remained staring at the two. Love? He believed in true love but it wasn't suppose to be like this, between an experiment that wasn't even human and his granddaughter. He had been watching them closely since he first suspected something was going to happen. For two years he saw their relationship grow and strengthen to the point that they were just about inseparable. His head perked up as he witnessed slight rustling from Maria's cot.

It was true, the slumbering girl slowly shifted beneath her sheets. She gave a gentle sigh as her aquamarine eyes slowly fluttered open to view the sleeping face of her protector. She smiled and glanced to his paw that gently griped her hand, close to her lips. Her heart became tight as she held it and brought his soft fur to her cheek.

"Shadow," she whispered into it. The ebony hedgehog lightly twitched in her grip. She saw this and bent her head down to his face, still smiling. Her nose gingerly touched his, "Shadow?"

The hedgehog's eyelids slowly opened revealing startling, ruby irises. They widened seeing how close she was to him, a tiny blush warmed his cheeks from this contact. But, he calmed, his face fixed with a sense of relief.

"Maria, you're okay?" he asked, concernedly.

She closed her eyes and nodded, her humid breath caressing his smooth, peach cheeks.

For a while both were in a calming bliss.

Maria was hesitant to say what she was thinking. Her face slightly embarrassed, "you don't have to sit there. You could come up here, under the blankets with me."

Shadow's eyes widened again as his ears perked at her words. His heart nearly skipped a beat, another blush cascaded across his muzzle.

His words stuttered slightly, "Well, I wouldn't want to invade your privacy or anything -I mean- if you don't mind I don't -I mean-"

Maria giggled from his shyness. She lifted her petite head to place it back on the flat pillow, as she left Shadow missed the tiny speck of warmth her nose gave his. She brought up the thin white sheet with one of her arms, inviting him up with her. That blush still remained, luckily they had given her a long dress to cover her bare form so he relaxed a bit. Shadow took her invitation, climbing up as she covered him. The hedgehog rested his head on the pillow only inches from Maria's. She closed her eyes and he could almost feel her muscles relax as if she had been tense the entire time. Then, she did something he didn't expect.

She brought her head down to his chest and buried her nose in his white patch of fur, her hands resting on his stomach. "Please, hold me," her voice became so longing.

It was then that Shadow knew she still felt scared and unsure of herself. He obliged and wrapped his shielding arms around her petite frame, pulling her closer to him. He sighed in her golden hair, closing his eyes and breathing in her sugary scent. Maria began to drift back into sleep. Her nose tickled with the softness of his fur and the faint musk he gave off. She wanted to feel that same sensation from before, when he held her after she was attacked. His heart beat was deep and rhythmical, singing her straight into peaceful slumber. She sighed longingly as again she felt the safest she had ever been in all her life.

_ He would never hurt me... He would never let anyone hurt me..._

Gerald didn't know what to do as he watched their display of affection. Should he find a way to stop them, separate them perhaps? Or would it be best to heed Neaira's advice, for he had been listening to her every word, and let them be? He didn't know. He was torn between the right thing, in his heart, and the politically correct one, the one society would better accept. Would he let his granddaughter be ridiculed for loving a hedgehog instead of another human? Only time would tell. So, the Professor gave a long sigh from deep in his lungs and slowly turned away from them. He began to walk to his private dorm, never giving another look to the two. Perhaps he would have a better thinking capacity in the morning.

-**END**-


End file.
